I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 488

The next day. Afternoon.

The thick, dark clouds completely obscured the sun, making the weather gloomy.

Kugung…! Kugugung…!

In this oppressive darkness, the Gorgon’s nest was preparing to bloom once again.

The entire nest vibrated faintly, scattering sand in all directions. Soon, Medusa, having finished her cannibalistic feast, would emerge.

In front of the nest, the human heroes gathered.

They had tried their best to recover in less than a day, but their limits were clear. The heroes, with tired faces, loosened their bandages.

At the center of these heroes stood the five-person party.

Lucas, Torkel, Janice, the Black Mage, and the Blind Swordsman—this hastily formed party naturally gathered together again today.

As they prepared for the battle that would soon resume, Janice blurted out,

“By the way, should our party name be ‘The Old Timers’?”

“What kind of musty-smelling party name is that…?”

The Black Mage shuddered.

However, the Blind Swordsman nodded.

“Come to think of it, all the members are old guys? Wow, I suddenly feel a strong sense of camaraderie.”

“Yesterday, Lily also called us ‘old guys’ when she saw us… It’s quite straightforward.”

Torkel stated matter-of-factly.

But Lucas’s shoulders trembled in shock.

“…No, I’ve been hearing ‘old guy’ since yesterday. I’m not an old guy. I’m still a fresh-faced early 20-something.”

Evangeline already calls him ‘old guy’ because of their age difference, which is subtly hurtful.

Now, he has to be lumped into the same category as these real old guys?

The Blind Swordsman clicked his tongue at Lucas.

“Listen well, handsome young man. There are only two kinds of men in the world. Those who are old guys, and those who are going to be old guys.”

“Th-that can’t be…! I will never become an old guy!”

Watching Lucas declare his futile resistance, the other four old guys chuckled. They had all thought the same way once.

Kugugugung!

At that moment, the nest vibrated greatly once.

It was a signal that the monstrous enemy would soon appear. The heroes stopped their banter and raised their weapons with tense faces.

Lucas looked to the side. Evangeline, who was directing the other heroes, nodded at Lucas.

“I’m ready!”

“Good…”

Lucas raised his voice and shouted.

“Everyone, don’t forget! Our goal is not to kill this monster! We need to scatter into the city and just buy time… !”

The heroes nodded in turn.

Lucas, with his helmet pressed down, shouted again.

“Okay, operation start! Scatter…”

But the order to ‘scatter’ could not be fully delivered.

Keeeeeiiing!

From within the collapsing nest, in the thick cloud of dust—a terrifyingly powerful petrifying gaze shot out like a bullet.

Kwaddeuk! Kwaddeudeudeuk!

“What, petrifying gaze…?!”

“Too fast-”

“Ugh!”

“Aaaah?!!”

The petrifying gaze, launched like a surprise attack, was incomparably faster and twice as wide in range than before.

Except for a few heroes who barely managed to raise their mirror shields, everyone was swept away by the gaze. The heroes screamed as they turned to stone.

“Damn it…”

Among the petrified allies, Lucas trembled with anger.

Gooooooo…

Parting the dust cloud, Medusa… the complete Gorgon appeared.

Floating slightly above the ground, Medusa was even more gigantic, more hideous, and more terrifying in appearance.

The snakes hanging from her head were intertwined and tied back like one giant snake, and her thick arms and legs were covered with rock-like carapaces.

Beneath the pair of wings on her back, a pair of tails covered in animal fur writhed like an outer shell.

Under her wide-open, huge gray eyes, gray sand constantly swirled.

Her long, torn mouth reached below her ears, and three long tongues flicked inside.

The evil that seemed to corrupt the mind just by looking at it through a mirror overflowed.

Lucas frowned deeply, his brow furrowed, and drew his sword.

“The plan doesn’t change…! Everyone scatter! Buy time-”

《No.》

At that moment, Medusa muttered briefly.

《The tag game is over.》

Medusa lightly waved her hand.

Kugugugugung!

Then, rocks rose up like walls, encircling the area.

Lucas was speechless. The diversion tactic they had planned to spread out into the city was blocked from the very beginning.

《You will die here.》

Thump…!

Taking a heavy step forward, Medusa cried out bitterly.

《Your deaths, no, the destruction of the human world…! I will offer it to appease my poor sisters!》

***

The last heroes of Crossroads were annihilated.

The reason they had been able to withstand the Gorgon sisters was ultimately due to the urban warfare environment, which made it easier to avoid the petrifying gaze.

However, Medusa had restricted the space, and in the narrow space surrounded by walls, they had no way to withstand the attack with the overwhelming range and speed of the petrifying gaze.

The heroes were petrified and fell one by one… and in the end, only Lucas and Evangeline were left standing on their feet.

“Haa…! Haa…!”

Evangeline breathed roughly.

She had used her ultimate skill, [Last Fortress], and throughout the battle, she had stood at the forefront, holding her shield to protect the other heroes and taking Medusa’s attacks.

As a result, she had now exhausted almost all of her strength. Evangeline instinctively knew that she wouldn’t be able to move much more.

《Can’t run around anymore, human?》

Medusa, who had spread her wings and flown up, plunged down from the sky towards Evangeline.

Kyaaaaaaaa-!

A fierce sonic wave poured out from the gaping maw of the monster,

Crack, crack…!

The sonic wave shattered all the ice mirrors attached to Evangeline’s shield.

“Ugh?!”

Evangeline groaned, having lost her means of defense against the petrifying gaze. And Medusa did not miss the opportunity.

Keeeeeiiing!

Medusa, who had swooped in like a bomber, flashed her petrifying gaze. Evangeline gritted her teeth.

Whack-!

And then, Lucas, who had rushed in from the side, kicked Evangeline away.

Lucas’s desperate kick hit Evangeline’s shield, and Evangeline was pushed back, barely escaping Medusa’s petrification range.

But Lucas was placed directly in front of Medusa’s two eyes. And Lucas’s mirror shield had already been shattered.

“Lucas, old guy-!”

Hearing Evangeline’s scream, Lucas chuckled.

“…There’s only one chance, missy.”

Kwaddeudeuk…!

Lucas turned to stone.

Evangeline, who had been knocked down, gritted her teeth and got up. Medusa was circling in the sky again.

《To be petrified in your place, what a touching display of camaraderie.》

As Medusa sneered, Evangeline bared her fangs and sneered back.

“Is it as bad as your sisterly love, eating your sisters’ corpses?”

《…You insolent brat…》

Medusa, trembling, roared and fell down.

《You don’t know anything about our sisters, so don’t speak so carelessly-!》

Evangeline, without erasing her insolent smile, re-covered her shield with ice, pushed it forward, and firmly fixed it to the ground.

“You don’t know anything about us, yet you try to destroy us, it’s the same for you… !”

《Why don’t I know! I know everything about you humans—I’m sick of it!》

Kyaaaaaaaa-!

Medusa used the same tactic as before. First, she fired a powerful sonic wave.

Crack, clang…!

The ice on Evangeline’s shield shattered all at once. The shattered ice briefly cast a faint rainbow in the air.

Keeeeeiiing!

Medusa approached Evangeline again, activating her petrifying gaze.

She planned to turn the useless shield into a stone block first, and then finish off the small human hiding behind it.

But,

《…?!》

There was no one behind the shield that had instantly turned to stone.

《What?》

Confused, Medusa quickly turned her head and looked around—

And found her.

Taat-!

The human knight was rushing into her flank.

Evangeline had planted her shield on the ground as bait, and in the gap where her vision was blurred by the shattered ice from the sonic wave, she had slipped out to the side.

“I’ve been waiting… for this moment!”

Evangeline’s green eyes flashed clearly.

The huge lance in her right hand was glowing white-hot.

It was [Damage Payback].

[Damage Save], which stores the damage inflicted by the enemy by blocking it with the shield, and [Damage Payback], which releases the stored damage through the lance.

This was the offensive and defensive combat method of Evangeline, the shield-lance knight.

During the past few days of battle, Evangeline had used [Damage Save] to absorb the enemy’s attacks and store the damage, but she had never used [Damage Payback].

Even though her storage capacity had already increased to its limit through awakening, and she had filled that capacity by using [Last Fortress] to absorb even her allies’ damage.

She had never released this energy at the enemy even once.

All of that was for this one moment…!

‘A single blow, squeezed and gathered to the limit of the limit!’

A truly fatal blow!

“Take- this!”

Flames erupted from behind the huge lance. The fire spirit enchanted on the lance released flames, adding propulsion.

Evangeline was certain. This attack—will land!

Slip.

“Huh?”

And at that moment.

Evangeline’s posture collapsed.

Evangeline quickly looked down. A piece of ice that had broken off from the ice shield was lying under her foot. She had slipped because of this.

Her ankle twisted. Her posture collapsed. Evangeline, absurdly, staggered…

“Do you think- I’d make such a mistake?!”

…She didn’t fall.

Chwaaaaaak!

Crushing the ice under her foot, Evangeline took a powerful step forward.

Already in her late second year [referring to her experience as a knight].

Evangeline had long since shed her days as a clumsy rookie, and her fully bloomed skills had reached their peak.

Evangeline miraculously recovered her collapsed posture. And she gritted her teeth and thrust her lance.

《Kuh?!》

Medusa desperately spread her wings and tried to get out of the attack range—

Poooook!

Evangeline’s lance, which followed like a guided missile, pierced Medusa’s abdomen.

And,

Kwagwagwagwagwang!

It exploded.

It literally burst. All the damage that had been accumulated to the limit with [Damage Save] throughout this battle detonated in a single [Damage Payback].

With the explosion, Medusa’s abdomen turned to dust. Her cracked upper and lower body were completely separated.

Evangeline was certain with the overwhelming sensation.

‘I did it!’

…If it were a normal living being, it would have been so.

It was a power and wound that would have been more than enough to kill instantly. But,

“…?!”

Medusa, who had become a complete Gorgon, was a monster made of rock.

Medusa floated in the air, pouring out dirt like blood from her cracked upper body.

Her intestines didn’t spill out, and her bones didn’t break.

She just had a hole in her.

“What is this…”

《You were really quite something, human.》

Medusa smiled, twisting her long mouth.

《If I hadn’t eaten my two sisters, I would have died from that attack just now.》

“You monster-”

《Don’t be so surprised.》

Keeeeeiiing!

Medusa used her petrifying gaze. And Evangeline had no means of evading it anymore.

With a hollow smile, Evangeline also turned to stone.

《…Did I defeat them all?》

Medusa looked around. There were no more humans moving.

《Is this the end of humanity’s front line?》

Medusa picked up her scattered lower body and attached it to her upper body.

Rocks and sand flew from the surroundings and joined the wound, connecting the upper and lower body.

The recovery was almost complete. Medusa glared fiercely.

《I will make all of you suffer the pain I have endured.》

Now that she had broken down the walls of humanity, it was time to begin the destruction of the human world in earnest.

《The resentment of being born with this curse for a sin I did not commit… all of you, feel it as you turn to stone…》

To the north of this front line. To destroy all humans…

Just as Medusa, having made up her mind, was about to turn away without any regrets, a voice was heard.

“Hey, monster.”

“It’s too early to leave. There’s a human still alive here.”

《…?!》

Confused, Medusa looked in that direction.

A human was seen staggering to his feet not far away.

A champion’s helmet with a laurel wreath carved on it, a large rectangular shield, and a mace in his hand.

The sole survivor of the Leprosy Extermination Squad.

It was Torkel.

“I am… the last one on this front line.”

With his body half-petrified, and his voice hoarse from inhaling stone dust.

Torkel declared.

“Crossroads is still… confronting you!”